Vocalion 02605 – W. Lee O’Daniel and his Light Crust Doughboys – 1933

Posted on May 26, 2018 by R. Connor Montgomery

It has come time once again to pay tribute to a legend lost, to the greatest of them all, America’s Blue Yodeler, and the Father of Country Music: Jimmie Rodgers. At the time of this posting, it has been eighty-five years to the day that Jimmie walked through those pearly gates, a victim of the white plague at only thirty-five years old.

In the wake of Jimmie Rodgers’ tragic demise, numerous songwriters published melodies eulogizing him. Among the most successful of these were Bob Miller’s “The Life of Jimmie Rodgers” and “The Death of Jimmie Rodgers”, recorded by Gene Autry and Bradley Kincaid, the latter of whom also sang “Mrs. Jimmie Rodgers’ Lament”, composed by Rich Kuster. But those were far from the only ones. Songwriters Dwight Butcher and Lou Herscher, who had collaborated with Rodgers in composing “Old Love Letters”, which Jimmie cut at his last session, penned the popular “When Jimmie Rodgers Said Goodbye”, recorded by a fair number of artists, including Autry and radio yodeler Kenneth Houchins, and by Grand Ole Opry performers Asher Sizemore and his son Little Jimmie under the title “Little Jimmie’s Goodbye to Jimmie Rodgers”. Three years after Rodgers’ passing, Ernest Tubb made his recording debut backing Mrs. Jimmie Rodgers (the former Carrie Williamson) on a weepy performance of “We Miss Him When the Evening Shadows Fall”, then he sang “The Last Thoughts of Jimmie Rodgers” and “The Passing of Jimmie Rodgers” himself. Even decades later, Rodgers was still being honored in song by devotees such as Tubb and Hank Snow, two of the countless many whose lives his music had touched.

Vocalion 02605 was recorded on October 11th and 10th, 1933, respectively, in Chicago, Illinois. The Light Crust Doughboys are Herman Arnspiger and Leon Huff on guitars, Sleepy Johnson on banjo, Leon McAuliffe on steel guitar, and Ramon DeArman on string bass. Leon Huff provides lead vocals. W. Lee O’Daniel was there, too, but he didn’t do anything on this record.

Opening out with a guitar run reminiscent of Rodgers’ signature style, Leon Huff sings and yodels W. Lee O’Daniel’s own tribute to the Blue Yodeler, “Memories of Jimmy [sic] Rodgers” (though either he or the record company misspelled Rodgers’ name).

Memories of Jimmy [sic] Rodgers, recorded October 11, 1933 by the Light Crust Doughboys.

Lightening up considerably from the more solemn tone of the previous song, the Doughboys sing a humorous number poking a little fun at the Depression on the flip, “I Want Somebody to Cry Over Me”, punctuated by Sleepy Johnson’s tenor banjo.

I Want Somebody to Cry Over Me, recorded October 10, 1933 by the Light Crust Doughboys.

Vocalion 04727 – W. Lee O’Daniel and his Hillbilly Boys – 1938

Posted on March 11, 2018 by R. Connor Montgomery

On this day, we celebrate the life and accomplishments of one hayseed flour salesman from Ohio whose name went down in the history books: Mr. “Pappy” O’Daniel.

“Pappy”, as pictured on the cover of “Beautiful Texas”.

Wilbert Lee O’Daniel was born in Malta, Ohio on March 11, 1890. When he was a baby, the family relocated to Kansas following the death of the O’Daniel patriarch. Lee entered the flour industry at the age of eighteen, and soon went on the move, eventually settling in Fort Worth, where he began working for the Burrus Mill and Elevator Company of Saginaw, Texas as sales manager. In 1928, O’Daniel became the company’s director of advertising in the newly emerging medium of radio broadcasting. About three years later, he hired the Wills Fiddle Band, at the time consisting of fiddler Bob Wills, guitarist Herman Arnspiger, and singer Milton Brown, to perform on the air as the Light Crust Doughboys. Not a fan of their hillbilly music however, O’Daniel canceled their show a couple weeks later. Fans of the show were not pleased, and soon the Light Crust Doughboys were back on the air. By 1933, the original Doughboys had parted ways, and a new lineup of musicians had taken over the moniker, going on to achieve great radio acclaim. In 1935, O’Daniel was fired from his position with the Burrus Mill, and he went on to found his own flour company, the W. Lee O’Daniel Flour Company, manufacturer of Hillbilly Flour. To promote the new product, “Pappy” O’Daniel formed a new radio band: the Hillbilly Boys, which included his two sons Mike and Pat. Broadcasting from WBAP in Fort Worth and “border blaster” XEPN in Piedras Negras, Mexico, the Hillbilly Boys also found considerable fame with their madcap radio theme “Please Pass the Biscuits, Pappy”.

Come 1938, W. Lee O’Daniel registered to run for Governor of Texas—his platform, the ten commandments, and his campaign slogan, the golden rule. He took his Hillbilly Boys on the campaign trail and drew huge crowds. Winning the election, he promised no sales tax or poll tax, an end to capital punishment, and an old-age pension. He delivered on none. Nonetheless, he proved popular enough and was reelected in 1940. Shortly into his second term as Governor, O’Daniel set his sights on a more prestigious and powerful position, the United States Senate. When Senator Morris Sheppard died in 1941, O’Daniel appointed the eighty-six year old son of Sam Houston, Andrew Jackson Houston, to fill his empty seat in the interim. When Houston himself died several months later, O’Daniel defeated Lyndon B. Johnson in a special election and took the seat for himself. When the next election came around, he asserted that his opponents, former governors Dan Moody and James V. Allred, were part of a communist conspiracy against him, alienating himself from some of his supporters, but nonetheless claiming the election. In 1944, he campaigned for the Texas Regulars, opposing Roosevelt’s fourth term. Serving ineffectively for eight years, O’Daniel declined to run for reelection in 1948—citing the hopelessness of saving America from the commies (though in reality he had simply embarrassed too many of his constituents)—and was replaced by “Landslide Lyndon”. Thereafter, he retired to a ranch outside Fort Worth, making several ill-fated political comebacks in the 1950s and claiming that the Supreme Court’s decision to desegregate schools in Brown v. Board of Education was a communist plot. W. Lee O’Daniel died on May 12, 1969 in Dallas, at the age of 79.

Vocalion 04727 was recorded in Dallas, Texas on December 3, 1938. The Hillbilly Boys are Mike O’Daniel on fiddle, Bundy Bratcher on the accordion, Kermit Whalen on the steel guitar, Pat O’Daniel on tenor banjo, Leon Huff and Curly Perrin on guitars, and Wallace Griffin on string bass. Huff sings the vocals on both sides.

First: the Hillbilly Boys’ theme song, “Please Pass the Biscuits, Pappy”, really the 1933 song “I Like Mountain Music” with new words added by W. Lee O’Daniel to reflect his floury interests.

Please Pass the Biscuits, Pappy (I Like Mountain Music), recorded December 3, 1938 by W. Lee O’Daniel and his Hillbilly Boys.

On the other side, the Hillbilly boys do a swell job swinging the 1927 tune “One Sweet Letter From You”. I bought the record for “Please Pass the Biscuits Pappy”, but I do believe I like this one better.

One Sweet Letter from You, recorded December 3, 1938 by W. Lee O’Daniel and his Hillbilly Boys.

Vocalion 02621 – W. Lee O’Daniel and his Light Crust Doughboys – 1933

Posted on March 2, 2016 by R. Connor Montgomery

1933 Sheet music for Beautiful Texas, words and music by W. Lee O’Daniel.

On March 2, 2016, Texas celebrates the 180th anniversary of its independence from Mexico, and the creation of the Republic of Texas. After ten years as an independent nation, and a hot button issue in United States politics, Texas was admitted to the Union as the 28th state. To celebrate and remember the occasion, here’s two fiercely Texas-themed tunes by the Fort Worth-based Light Crust Doughboys, under the leadership of W. Lee O’Daniel, the radio advertising director for Burrus Mills, makers of Light Crust Flour and future Governor of Texas.

Vocalion 02621 was recorded on October 10, 1933 at Vocalion’s studio in the Furniture Mart Building at 666 Lake Shore Drive in Chicago, Illinois, the first recorded (but not first issued) sides at the Doughboys’ first Vocalion session, and only second overall session, after their 1932 Victor session, which yielded one disc. The band members on these sides include Herman Arnspiger and Leon Huff on guitars, Clifford Gross on fiddle, Sleepy Johnson on banjo and fiddle, Leon McAuliffe on steel guitar, and Ramon DeArman on string bass.

Guitar player Leon Huff sings lead vocal on W. Lee O’Daniel’s song, “Beautiful Texas”, proudly boasting of “about six million people who’re glad that they’re here to stay.” A truer song has never been written.